Snails flipping over. should i help them back up?

[DRoy1124]

I have some Astrea and Cerith snails in my tank. I usually find that about one a day keeps on falling over on the sand. Being scared, i usually reach my hand in the tank and help him back up. should i worry about this? or can they get themselves up? Thanks.

[CBlanks]

You can give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. But, if you teach that same man to fish, he will never go hungry.

 

Leave the snail alone. Let Darwin takes its course if the thing can't even get up off its own back.

[yankeereefer]

I dunno about cerith snails, but astrea's can't right themselves unless they're close enough to a wall or something to grab onto

 

If you don't want your hands wet - Use a wooden chopstick or skewer. Leaving them upside down will likely lead to their demise esp if there are hungry hermits about

 

YR

[CoolGuy77]

In my experience Astrea and Cerith snails can't flip themselves over. It's possible that every once in a while one or two might get lucky, but if I was you I'd just keep flipping them to be on the safe side. If they don't get flipped over then they will eventually starve to death. The only snail I've ever seen upright themselves in my tank are Nassarius Snails. I use a plastic rod to flip them over because I have to take my light off the tank every time I need to get in there.

[schnell76]

Yup, gotta help the astreas if they end up flipped over. They cannot upright themselves if they fall upside down in the sand and there is nothing for them to grab onto. I have watched a couple of mine try and they end up just covering their foot in substrate trying. Like mentioned a wooden stick or even an algea scraper will do the job if you do not want to get your hands wet all the time.

[proraptor2]

You need to flip them back over if you have a fish that likes to eat snails (4 line wrasse)

[bklynmet]

You need to flip them back over if you have a fish that likes to eat snails (4 line wrasse)

 

Agreed.. flip the astreas over or they'll die in a day or two... a few that have flipped in unreachable areas were oberved to be visited by brisle worms - who make a home of their shells after they're dead... so you'll want to discard the shells, IMO

[cpvince]

Yup..flip em. I know it's annoying, but they'll die if you don't. I have to help out my flipped snails every few days too.